Swiss International School Basel - any good?

Family, Education, Health and Pets
1
Dear All,

Is there anyone out there who sends their child to the Swiss International School in Basel? We've just moved to the area from Vienna and I'm trying to decide what to do with my 4 and a half year old for the coming academic year. While we were still in Vienna, we found the Kinderkrippe Eva in Kleinbasel, where both Max and his little sister are currently having their daycare and we registered him for a Kindergarten place at the next state Kindergarten (I should mention that he is billingual and German is currently his stronger language, I'm British and his Dad is Austrian!). But this is all so expensive (especially as we've found a house in Oberwil so would have to pay Schulgeld for the Kindergarten) that the International school has suddenly become an option. So I was at the SIS yesterday and it all seems very nice - but I never expected to be signing up to send the kids through private schools and money could be an issue in the future when we want to buy a house etc etc. So the question is, is it really worth spending all that extra money over the next 17 years (arggg) to put the children through the billigual school. I would love for them both to be truly billingual, but would they be? In many ways, this is actually a philosophical decision rather than a practical one, but I'd love some advice and to hear about some experiences of the SIS.

Awaiting your replies with bated breath....

kate

2
The school is run for profit and has a huge turnover of staff. Save your money and make use of the free Swiss system.

3
Two of our Wibblets goto the ISB.

In a 1 line summary: Expensive, mostly OK.

Coming from an Australian "free" school system, I still have trouble with the "for profit" of it all. School lunches are 9 francs a day, payable in advance, 3 months at a time. If photos are taken at an excursion, you have to buy prints (no free digitals, except tiny website thumbnails) .

The photos thing sh*ts me a bit to be honest, particularly the excursion photos. The school enrollment fees are already expensive, and they're denying the kids digital copies of the photos to look-at/play/print/edit/make-into-things, for the sake of the (probably) minimal amount of profit they make from prints. I think they should add an extra 50 franks to the enrollment, and stop charging for every little thing.

I don't like their homework policy. Our 7yo gets 5 photocopied pages of stuff to do a week. He's supposed to spend "just 15 minutes" each night writing out spelling words, or counting, or colouring sh*t in. But it doesn't take 15 minutes, it usually takes more than an hour (3 is the record), including complaint-and-argue time. So the school is making me the ogre at least once a week because I have to force him to do boring fu*king homework sheets. They already spend 7 hours a day at school, WTF is an extra "15 minutes" at home going to teach. If it was a monthly assignment or something I could understand, but this isn't. I guess this is more of a home problem, than a school problem, but the homework definately is a catalyst. IMHO this sort of homework is the teacher unnecessarily reaching into home-life. Kind of a "you can never get away" control thing. See the work-a-holics today who can never leave their job at the office - they're the ones who always did their homework!

In terms of classes, and what they learn I have no problems. The facilities, music and sports equipment is as good as what you'd expect, considering the price. Some of the teachers seem enthusiastic, all the non-teaching staff is very friendly.

Kids who don't already speak english pickup the school accent, which is sort of a cross between English-English and American-English, plus a few other intinations.

I would give them a telephone call, and see if you can arrange a tour in the next couple of weeks (while there's still kids around).

I must admit to having 2nd thoughts about enrolling the 4yo., and if my Swiss-German was better, would certainly consider the Swiss system. But moreso that she actually does learn another language.

cheers,

(Mr)Wibble

PS> Apologies for the rant, lucky there's no scripture classes

4
I know nothing about the school in Basel. I have known children who go to the Zürich International School and the the Bi-lingual school in Horgen and have heard mostly positive reports about the dual language systems..

Depends a bit what you mean by truly bilingual. My husband is Swiss and the girls went to normal Swiss schools. When they were young I spoke English with our two children. The elder girl, until she went to Kindergarten, spoke English to me and, as other adults also tried out their English on her, she spoke English to them too. However, having found out that 'all' children talked Swiss German to her, she talked Swiss German back to them - and also to her younger sister, who hardly spoke a word of English at all but understood everything.

School was pretty uneventful - by this time the girls had found out that Mummy talks SG to all the neighbours etc. - so they both spoke SG to me too.

When they were 8 and 10, we went to England for two years. They could understand and read English, but by this time neither spoke a word of it, nor wrote if they could avoid it. We warned them that there they would have to speak English in school but they didn't believe us until they had their first day there. Surprise, surprise. Talk about culture shock! After two years their English was pretty good. We came to Kanton Schwyz and they slipped back into Swiss German again.

Now (aged 32 and 34) both of them speak, read and write English very well (spelling a bit shaky sometimes, but whose isn't?) but neither of them call themselves bi-lingual. They just haven't had enough adult English conversation in sufficient variety of situations and surroundings with enough different people to continue to increase their vocabulary to a full adult standard.

Me, I knit mostly in English, but crochet in German, I sew in English, but skied in German. I played the recorder in English, but taught swimming in German - because in the other language the vocabularly was missing. At home the language we use depends mostly on the subject matter, changing in the middle of a sentence when we cannot find the appropriate word (or it doesn't exist). Tut, tut. Dreadful habit!

However, I do try very, very hard to speak just pure English to our granddaughter. (aged 2)

Another disadvantage - I'm glad my girls now speak the English I speak. This won't help you much I'm afraid. Hope you find a good solution for your children though.

P.S. the homework situation isn't a very happy arrnagement in the Swiss schools either. Parents are more or less expected to help!

5
Whilst my child attends the ISB rather than the SIS, I did go and look around both. The SIS seemed a friendly place for young children to be, but the facilities there were very limited. Having said that my son is now 16 so we were looking at it from probably a different view point to you.

If my son had been younger than we would have had no problems putting him into the local school system if we were going to be here on a long term basis.

I have to say that my advice would be to look at as many schools (local and private) as you can, you will know the school that you will feel happy for your child to attend. Good luck!

6
Dear Kate, as someone who grew up bilingually (American father and German mother), I would strongly suggest to simply choose the most economically convenient option. From holidays and home environment, they will learn both languages anyway. It`s a rather organic process that doesn`t require much pampering or small group exposure. Certainly don`t waste money on it. Also, siblings will invariably learn the languages at different levels of interest, and gravitate toward one more than the other. This gravitation, the choice of a dominant tongue if you will, is fundamental since perfect bilingualism is a myth unless your nabokov - I know plenty of people raised bilingually who are sort of caught in the middle. good luck, sully

7
Just pointing out that there are 2 schools now being discussed (ISB & SIS) and they are at polar opposites on the spectrum in terms of facilities, teaching resources and appropriately qualified teachers. The ISB being at the good end. The ISB is non profit making, the SIS is.

8
As Longbyt said, it depends what you mean by bilingual. I (swiss mum, british dad), lived in britain til I was 13 and have now lived here for three years. I go to a swiss school and there are several people who speak english at home in my class alone. If your children read english books and speak english at home, their english will be fluent (moreso if they go to a gymnasium which offers immersion... half the subjects taught in english). That was pretty much how I learned german, but until I moved to switzerland, my german was competent though certainly not perfect (especially writing). My german is now 'perfect', but I still feel much more comfortable speaking english.

In the long run, your children will always have a preference for one of the two languages, and will probably always speak one or the other more fluently.

(Also: I have only had good experiences with the schools in basel (stadt and land) and would certainly recommend the state system. )

9
Interesting thread for me too as 2 of my children will be starting ISB in September. We are coming from the International School of Paris which is equally expensive but with less 'luxurious' facilities (situated in the middle of Paris there ain't a whole lot of room for playing fields).

Terrible that you have to pay for photos - have you complained Mr Wibble?

The homework thing is all a bit tricky too - academically I think numerous studies have shown that homework sheets in primary schools have absolutely no impact on learning outcomes but I guess it's meant to get them into a habit of doing something in the evenings. Have you seen the teacher about the problems you have getting your son to do them (and I can so sympathise as we've been there too!). At that age we quite often didn't even bother and the class teacher seemed very unconcerned.

I have a three year old and I shall be sending her to the local playgroup and then school - I want her to learn a second language easily, unlike my oldest child who culture shocked rather badly in the French system (talk about homework!) and even after 5 years in Paris hates the French language with a passion (not too keen on france either to be honest!).

Just to add about accents - kid often have two - the kind of mid atlantic drawly mixed 'school' accent and then the family accent (in our case neutral English) for home.

10
No, I just assumed it was part of the deal.

But to what end? The teachers want the kids to get used to "doing something of an evening"... so they can do homework of an evening?!

I don't get it. I went right through school, high school, university, and now too many years of work. I've never had this need to work of an evening.

Has anyone?

For me (and seemingly (at least my) kids), it just leads to resenting schoolwork. As I said, I have no problem with set assignments, but this stuff is just work for the sake of it. It's teaching my boy that schoolwork is repetitive and boring.

Yeah, we complained, they dismiss it out of hand, harking on about how it should only take "15 minutes". With that "Teacher -> parent" Holier-than-thou attitude too.

Interesting, our kids haven't picked up much yet, except occasionally saying "Candy" rather than (Australian-English) "Lollies".

cheers,

-(Mr)Wibble

11
The question with the international schools should always be: how long are you planning on staying here? If you'll be staying for more than 1-2 years, I think it just doesn't make any sense to send your kids to a school where they isolate themselves from the rest of the population. If you're only here for a short period of time the international schools are fine as they make it easier for your kids to integrate again once they're back in their home country - that's pretty much their only function anyway. If you end up staying your kids will have a very hard time getting into a Gymnasium and College here as the level of education in the international schools is definitely below that in the Swiss public school system.

The Swiss school system is very good and kids generally don't have a hard time adjusting and learning the language.

My wife used to attend to an American boy who's family stayed in Basel for three years. He went to the international school in Reinach. After three years, he didn't speak a single word of German and thus didn't proft at all from his stay in Europe. He was constantly surrounded by other kids from the US, didn't know anyone from here.

Speaking a second language can be a huge asset later in your kids' lives - so if you're planning on staying, you should make sure you and your kids integrate well, learn the language quickly and make your Swiss experience a lasting one.

peter

12
something I can relate to very well.

13
This may be true in Switzerland (although I don't have first-hand experience, so I can't really comment) but was definitely not the case for me when I went to an IB school in the US. The whole approach of the school was to teach us to be aware of different cultures, and to encourage us to be fluent in 2 or 3 languages.

In the primary school, half of the day was taught in English, and the other half in a different language (French/Spanish/Dutch), so most students were fluent in at least two languages when they reached 6th grade. For those who didn't speak any English, intensive ESL classes were available. After a year, I was fluent in English, although I spoke French at home. An optional third language was introduced in secondary school. I went on to do the bilingual IB, and studied in both Canadian, British and French universities afterwards.

It's a shame that this emphasis on achieving fluency in different languages and being aware of other cultures doesn't seem to be the case here. I guess I was lucky my school had a different approach!

14
If you want to choose between the international schools in Basel, it's really no contest. Our children have experienced both (as have a lot who are now at ISB, but curiously very few, if any, who are now at SIS, if you get what I mean....)

True, at SIS, your children will learn German, whereas at ISB, they will not learn much of that.

On pretty much *every* other front, ISB wins hands-down.

Please feel free to PM me for more insights if interested.

Of course, if you really are here for the long-term, then there is the Swiss schools system which everyone tells me is jolly good. We don't have direct experience of this however.

15
Perhaps another thing to consider is whether the schools ethos/culture/outlook on life/approach to education coincides with your own.

One thing I have greatly appreciated about the international system is that it is enquiry based active learning and teaches children skills that will always be useful as well as to be self reflecting and internally motivated. The opposite is rather more true for the French system - emphasis on external testing, comparison of marks/competition, an awful lot of chalk and talk (I make no comment about the swiss system - I have no experience).

I also accept the fact that however hard we try to integrate (and we're quite good at it now!) we will always be foreign, have third culture kids and not really ever fit in 100% (I see this as positive by the way!). So I personally like to be able to hang out with all the other misfits as well as the locals!

Dawiz, I see your arguments but children in international schools are actually a fully integrated part of their community - that of the 'global nomads' (to use a phrase I actually dislike very much). It's not like they are sad isolated little souls feeling that they don't belong anywhere .

I also used to feel that 'generally kids adjust and learn the language', but I have seen enough examples of children who haven't and who have had very traumatic periods in their lives that I would only caution that if your own child was having problems that you should intervene and do something quickly and assertively.

16
One other thing specifically about the international school system is that the International Baccalaureate Organisation has an excellent reputation and the IB is a highly desirable qualification to gain entrance to Universities throughout the world - perhaps not so pressing if your children are in primary school but if you will be going to another country the programme is the same in all IB schools and allows an easy transition.

17
Mr Wibble,

I never did homework in primary either but it really has changed now children are expectd to do so much more that we did in the lovely progressive 70s and 80s. Have you thought about telling the teacher that you won't support homework as you feel it has no value (and get some research to back you up - you can find it I'm sure). Then, it is up to the school to put in place consequences for your son if they feel strongly that homework should be done. Not pleasant for your boy but it stops you having to be the policeman and avoids the terrible kitchen table scenes Also check out the info from the IBO - I'm not sure they recommend homework every night for 7 year old (grade 1 or 2?). Mine in grade 2 did very little homework nor in grade 3.

One problem is that for you there's too much homework but there will be another eager beaver parent in the same class demanding more for their kids.

I shall complain about the photos next year!

18
We have experience with both the SIS and the Swiss state schools in Klein Basel and Riehen. In our case we didn't see any advantage in staying with the SIS and we are generally happy with the Swiss schooling. My daughter has always been bilingual in English (spoken at home) and German (daycare and school environment). Her English did improve a bit after the SIS since it's a bilingual program, but I think they are going to be starting English classes earlier in the state school in the next years so that shouldn't matter anymore (currently they don't start until grade 7 or OS3, which is about age 13). But there are also HSK classes available now in English. These are supplemental classes that can be taken in the child's mother language to keep up their reading and writing skills.

19
Someone mentioned ISB in this thread. When I searched for it on the forum I couldnt trace other threads. I found their website but it seems to be for tertiary education only. Can someone please tell me more about their school & where I can get info?

20

http://www.isbasel.ch/index.php?id=76

That should give you an overveiw. I don't know what age(s) your child(ren) are but the school caters from pre-school up to age 18.

Are you looking to move nearer to Basel? Otherwise I think that the school is too far away from where you live now.

If you would like anymore information then please PM me, although I have no direct experience with the lower school, I can find out answers to questions you may have.

Hope that helps.